July 11, 2013

Today I tried to learn Japanese. I am a big fan of Japanese animation. Although there are always Mandarin subtitles for Chinese people like me to read, it is still beneficial to know a few phrases in Japanese, in case I want to travel to Japan for vacation. My grandmother knows Japanese. During the time when the Japanese colonized Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War, the education provided was all in Japanese. My grandmother learned everything in Japanese until she graduated from middle school. Then the Japanese were drawn back to their home country. My grandmother’s ability to speak Japanese is a great advantage for me to learn Japanese. I can ask her to help me if I can’t pronounce a phrase. However, I was not sure whether or not my grandmother learned the modern Japanese. In the old time, earrings were called mi mi wa. In the modern time, earrings are called iyaringu. It sounds exactly like english. Beer, milk, and banana are all examples of words that translated from english, old or new. My grandmother handed me a decrepit Japanese learning handbook. All four sides of the book were crumpled. Every page in the book was yellow due to long exposure to air. That book looked at least 20 years old. However, the ink in it has not worn off yet. The words are still clear on the yellow pages. This book is very interesting. It consists of three parts. The first part is the original Japanese text, showing reader what it looks like. The second part is the Chinese definition part, telling the reader what it is. The third part is pinyin, showing the reader how to read with Chinese characters. However, the third part is so hard to understand. Frequently, I can’t recognize the Chinese characters. My grandmother was so confused when I tried to read out a phrase to her. It is so frustrating for me.